Photographic booths

ABSTRACT

A photographic booth includes an upright housing for photographic equipment abutting a circular chamber. The chamber has an opening on the opposite side thereof to the housing. A ramp adjacent the opening leads up to the floor of the chamber. A fold-down seat can be folded down to allow able-bodied users to be seated or folded up to provide accommodation for a wheelchair user. An arcuate door is provided to open and close the opening.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to photographic booths.

Photographic booths are located at various public locations such astrain stations and shopping arcades for the customer to have passportsized photographs taken. Such booths consist generally of a rectangularchamber having two side walls and two end walls. Mounted externally ofthe end wall is the housing of an operating system. The operating systemcomprises a coin operated photographic system which is capable of takingphotographs, developing them and then dispensing them in response to theinput of the required value of coins. Mounted on the opposite end wallare a series of curtains which can be drawn to provide differentbackgrounds. In the center of the chamber is a rigid stool which can beraised and lowered as required by the customer. Access to the booth canbe gained through an opening on one side wall of the chamber. A halfcurtain can be drawn across the opening for privacy.

A major disadvantage of the booth is that it cannot be readily accessedby disabled people, particularly, those confined to a wheelchair. Also,the privacy provided by the half curtain is fairly minimal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improvedphotobooth.

According to the present invention there is provided a photographicbooth comprising a chamber to be occupied by the user and havingphotographic apparatus directed into the chamber on one side thereof andan opening providing access to the user on the opposite side thereof.

According to the present invention there is further provided aphotographic booth comprising a part circular chamber to be occupied bythe user and having photographic apparatus directed into the chamber onone side thereof, an opening in the circular wall of the chamber whichis opened and closed by an arcuate sliding door.

A photographic booth embodying the present invention will now bedescribed, by way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdiagrammatic drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a photobooth with the door partiallyopen;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the photobooth with the door closed;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the photobooth with the roof removed andshowing the booth occupied by a person in a wheelchair;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the door and its support mechanism;

FIG. 5 is a section through a support rail and carriage of the supportmechanism of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section through the lower part of the chamber ofthe booth;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of the door drive mechanism;

FIG. 8 is a front elevation of the door and its associated detectors;and

FIG. 9 is a graph of speed versus distance for the door.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As shown in FIG. 1, the photobooth includes an upright housing 2generally rectangular in horizontal crosssection coupled to the uprightchamber 4 generally circular in horizontal crosssection. The chamber 4has an arcuate opening in a side thereof remote from the housing 2 whichopening is closable by a sliding arcuate door 6. An elongate window 18is provided on opposite sides of the chamber 4. Each window 18 may becovered on the inside by a blind or curtain (not shown). Located insidethe chamber 4 is a fold-down seat 8 (see FIG. 3) which when not in useautomatically folds into the vertical position to allow access to thechamber by a wheelchair. An arcuate ramp 10 extends around the openingto the chamber 4 at floor level to provide easy access to the chamber 4for a wheelchair. On the external wall of the housing is a coin slot 12for accepting coins to open the door 6 and to initiate a photographicsession with the user. Also provided is a photograph discharge chute 14to discharge the finished photographs which may be passport sized orlarger portrait sized photographs.

The wall 16, which the housing 2 has in common with the chamber 4, isprovided with a window 18 through which a camera (not shown) located inthe housing can take portrait pictures of the customer seated in thechamber 4. The camera is provided with appropriate flashlight facilitiesand the operation is set in train by the customer operating a series ofcontrols of a control panel 20 mounted in the wall 16. The camera andthe controls therefor are well know in the art and so will not bedescribed here.

The sliding door and the apparatus controlling it will now be describedin more detail.

The door 4 is generally semicircular and depends downwardly from acircular track in the roof of the chamber so as to be rotatable insidethe chamber from a closed position in which it closes the opening in thechamber to a position in which it opens the opening and at the same timecovers the camera window 18 and control panel 20. Thus, the controlpanel 20 and the camera cannot be accessed by the user until the door 6is closed with the user inside the chamber 4.

The door 6, as shown in FIG. 4, is supported by a cruciform beamstructure 22. The structure 22 consists of two hollow beams ofrectangular section which have been welded together at right angles toeach other. Three blocks 24, 26 and 28 upstanding from the upper end ofthe door 6 and circumferentially spaced at 90° intervals from oneanother are slotted into and secured to three respective ends of thefour ends of the beam structure 22. The beam structure 22 thus carriesthe door 6.

Each arm of the cruciform structure 22 carries on its upper surface arespective carriage 30, 32, 34 and 36 equiradially spaced from thecenter of the structure 22. The four carriages 30, 32, 34 and 36 run onan annular rail 40 secured to the underside of the roof of the chamber4.

The four carriages are identical and FIG. 5 shows a crosssection throughone carriage 30. As can be seen, the rail is a sexagon in crosssectionand is engaged on opposite sides by bearings carried by the carriage sothat the carriage 30 is held captive on the rail 40 but can run aroundthe rail for the full 360°. The door 6 is thus suspended from the rails40 and, if unrestrained, can be rotated freely around the rail for afull revolution.

The lower perimeter of the door 6 is accommodated in a slot 50 in ramp10 to be spaced from the base of the slot 50 by say 5 mm. The inner faceof the door carries adjacent the lower perimeter arcuate strip 52 ofNylon (RTM) which bears against the side wall 50A of the slot 50. Itwill be appreciated that by the manner in which the door is supportedfrom above; there will be a tendency for the door to tilt towards theinner side wall 50A and to resist any forced move radially outwardly.

When the door 6 is closed, its opposite sides are still located withinthe outerwalls of the chamber 4 and hence the door is held captive bythe chamber.

The door 6 is driven by a motor 60. A pulley wheel 62 is rigid with thecruciform structure having a common axis therewith. The motor 60 drivesan auxiliary pulley wheel 64 though a clutch 66. An endless belt 68couples the pulley wheels 62 and 64 together. The belt 68 is secured tothe pulley wheel 62 by rivets 70 at one location. In operation when themotor 60 is energized in response to the insertion of a coin in the slot12, it will drive the wheel 62 through the clutch 66, the pulley 64 andthe belt 68 to cause the door 6 to open. As the door opens, the trailingedge 6A (see FIG. 8) passes four circumferentially spaced detectors 72,74, 76 and 78. The detectors 72, 74, 76 and 78 are connected to a motorcontrol circuit which controls the speed and direction of the motor.When the trailing edge 6A passes the detector 72, the motor 60 is drivenin the forward direction from position d₁ to d₂ at a uniformacceleration. When the detector 74 detects that the trailing edge 6A hasreached position d₂, the motor continues at a constant speed. Uponreaching position d₃ the motor 60 is decelerated at a constant rateuntil the trailing edge 6A reaches position d₄ as detected by thedetector 78. At this point the motor 60 is halted and the door 6 will bein the fully open position.

Upon the user entering the chamber 4 he can operate a button (not shown)to close the door 6. Instead a detector may automatically detect thepresence of a user and in response thereto cause the door to close. Thetrailing edge 6A of the door now becomes the leading edge and the motor60 is driven in reverse to displace the door at constant accelerationfrom point d₄ to d₃ at constant speed from point d₃ to d₂ and atconstant deceleration from d₂ to d₁ at which point the door is halted.The control here again is carried out under the control of the detectors78 to 72. When the motor 60 is disengaged it is short circuited toresist any forced displacement in response to forced displacement of thedoor. Of course, once a predetermined level of force is exceeded, theclutch 66 slips and so allows the door to open.

The speed at which the door is displaced is more clearly illustrated inFIG. 9 which shows a graph of displacement of the door versus speed.

The edge 6A of the door carries an infrared transmitter 80 located atthe upper end directing an infrared beam parallel to, but spaced from,the edge 6A to a detector 82 located at the lower end. Should the edge6A encounter an obstruction during its travel, the beam will be brokenand a circuit (not shown) will be actuated to disengage the motor 60. Anautomatic delay device (not shown) will act after a predetermined delayafter the obstruction ceases to be sensed to cause the motor 60 toresume its operation.

When the door 6 is closed the opposite edges can be engaged from theinside and so in the event of a power failure the user inside candisplace the door with sufficient force to overcome the clutch 66 andescape from the chamber 4. However, because the edges cannot be accessedfrom the outside when the door is closed, the arrangement is resistantto vandalization.

The interior face of the door, because it is curved, helps to defuse anyflashlight inside the chamber during a photographic session and so thequality of the photographs produced are better.

Because the belt 68 is riveted to the pulley 62 at one location, thedoor cannot be driven through 360° but is limited to displacementthrough just over 180°.

In a modification, the photographic apparatus and its associated cashbox may be alarmed so that if tampered with an alarm (not shown) eithervisible and/or audible will be actuated and the door automaticallyclosed.

In yet another modification an elongate brush member may be located in achannel 55 on the underside of the door to sweep any obstructions out ofthe path of the door and to maintain the chamber draft proof when thedoor is closed.

We claim:
 1. A photographic booth comprising:a chamber to be occupied bya user and defining an opening on one side thereof providing access tothe user; a photographic apparatus mounted on a side opposite saidopening and directed into the chamber; and a seat located between theapparatus and the opening for use by the user.
 2. A photographic boothaccording to claim 1, including:a floor inside said chamber and a rampon the outside of the chamber leading up to the floor inside thechamber.
 3. A photographic booth according to claim 1, wherein thechamber is generally circular in horizontal section having a centralaxis and including an arcuate door mounted inside the chamber to rotateabout the axis of the chamber to open and close said opening.
 4. Aphotographic booth comprising:a wall defining a part circular chamber tobe occupied by a user and having an opening on one side thereof; aphotographic apparatus mounted on and directed into the chamber on aside opposite said opening; an arcuate sliding door mounted on the wallto open and close the opening; and a retractable seat mounted on thewall and movable between a normally retracted position in which accessto the chamber can be gained by a wheelchair, and an operative positionlying between the opening and the apparatus.
 5. A photographic boothaccording to claim 3 or 4, wherein the door when open obscures saidphotographic apparatus and when closed allows access to the photographicapparatus.
 6. A photographic booth according claim 3, wherein the dooris mounted to depend downwardly from a support structure, the supportstructure being slidably supported from an annular guide by a pluralityof carriages.
 7. A photographic booth according to claim 6, wherein eachcarriage is provided with roller bearings engaging said guide.
 8. Aphotographic booth according to claim 3, wherein opposite lateral sidesof the door are located within outer walls of the chamber when the doorcloses the opening.
 9. A photographic booth according to claim 3,including an arcuate recess in the floor of said chamber foraccommodating the lower extremity of said door, and an arcuate strip oflow friction material secured to the inner circumferential face of thelower extremity of the door to slidingly engage the circumferentiallyinner face of the recess.
 10. A photographic booth according to claim 9,wherein the door is so mounted that its center of gravity causes it totilt in a sense such that the arcuate strip is urged into engagementwith the circumferentially inner face of the recess.
 11. A photographicbooth according to claim 3, including a circumferential groove in theunderside of the door accommodating an arcuate brush to brushinglyengage the floor of the recess.
 12. A photographic booth according toclaim 3, including a plurality of detectors arranged incircumferentially spaced locations along the path of the door to detectthe passage of the door therepast and control means for controllingdrive means driving the door in response to said detectors.
 13. Aphotographic booth according to claim 12, wherein the rate of closureand opening of the door is controlled so that during an initial periodthe acceleration is constant, during an intermediate period the speed isconstant and during a final period the deceleration is constant.
 14. Aphotographic booth according to claim 3 including a photodetection meansmounted on at least one edge of the door to detect any obstructionencountered by the door and upon detection to halt displacement of thedoor.
 15. A photographic booth according to claim 12, including clutchmeans interposed between the drive means and said door to allow saiddoor to be manually forced open when sufficient force is applied tocause said clutch to slip.
 16. A photographic booth according to claim 1wherein the seat is retractable and is normally retracted to allowaccess by a wheelchair user when required.
 17. A photographic boothcomprising:a floor, a wall mounted on the floor and defining a partcircular chamber with an opening on one side thereof, photographicapparatus mounted on the wall of the chamber on the opposite sidethereof to the opening, a retractable seat mounted one the wall of thechamber movable from a normally retracted position close to the wall ofthe chamber into an extended position extending into the path betweenthe opening and the apparatus, a support structure carried by the wall,an arcuate door suspended by the support structure for slidablemovement, drive means for driving the door between a first position inwhich it closes the opening and a second position in which it covers theapparatus, an arcuate strip of low friction material secured to theunderside of the door to slidingly engage an arcuate recess defined insaid floor, a plurality of detectors arranged in circumferentiallyspaced locations along the path of the door to detect the passage of thedoor there past, and control means for controlling the movement of thedoor between said first and second positions in response to thedetectors, the drive means being so programmed that the rate of closureand opening of the door is such that during an initial period theacceleration is substantially constant, during an intermediate periodthe speed is substantially constant while during a final period ofdetection the acceleration is substantially constant.